Welcome to Pune !!

The day I landed in Pune I witnessed just rain, rain and heavy rain. I imagined what else I can expect from this well known city. It’s now that I have found answers to my question…

My posting at Infosys, Pune was the only reason that brought me to this tech savvy city of Maharashtra. With lots of IT parks/companies, Pune is undoubtedly the India’s top IT hub (after Bangalore). The city is filled with smart & stylish IT professionals working in some or other IT company like Infosys, Accenture, Wipro, IBM, TCS, Cognizant, Adobe. You name a company you will find it in some or other part of this city.

I began my journey in Pune from the Infosys campus in Hinjewadi IT Park. Believe me I was dumbfound when I saw this beautiful campus for the first time and felt excited that I would be working here. Now, if you go 8-10 kms towards the city, you will find a special class of people known as ‘IT Professional’. The 80% population of the area is working youth. You go on any road you will find people, guys n girls; with bags on back coming late from offices, going early to offices, roaming on bikes.. Obsessed with internet such from movie tickets to pizzas everything they order online. Sometimes I wonder where the old people and families in this country are. Are old people endangered species of human race ?

Well if you are convinced pune is only about IT race, think again. Just go few more kms towards the city you will find another wonderful race.. a little more stylish, a little more young. That’s the typical ‘College Crowd’. Pune has as many no. of colleges as IT companies. It’s an education hub with students migrated from all across the country… some in search of true education… some in search of independence.. some in search of girlfriends/boyfriends… and some to enjoy the nightlife full of discs and pubs. Well thanks to the college crowd that add more charm to this busy and fast moving city.

Like other metro capitals (Delhi, Bangalore, Mumbai) it has malls, pubs, discs, restaurants, shopping centers, recreational clubs, spa centers and endless things that can serve you on weekends. Among the major and popular hangout zones are FC Road, MG Road, KP Road, Kalayani Nagar. The most unique and surprising thing about FC Road is that you will always find girls and boys walking hand in hand, hugging on roads.. group of college gang… sexy girls in minimal size outfits… boys with their bikes. Life on this road is far beyond the social stigmas and Indian culture which can hardly be found in cities like Delhi. On the other hand, KP Road is one stop destination for discs, pubs, restaurants, foreign cafe.. lavish celebrations & parties with high standard spending. Nightlife is awesome especially on weekends 🙂

However, if you are thinking to explore the corners of the city; high end segments of cars like BMW, Mercedes, Audi with special number plates on roads will make you curious. On the other hand, the public transport will put you on back seat. Bus services in the city are horrible.. with limited buses… overloaded crowd such that on boarding the bus you will pat your back. If by chance, you happen to be on bus.. the next moment you will realize that bus may breakdown in next few seconds. The city also has autos with good service but their sky rocket prices will make your pockets empty. So if you are planning to go for outing; reserve enough cash for transportation. The best option for everyday commuters is by company/college buses. Ohh.. I forgot to mention; the total no. of buses belonging to Infosys, Wipro, Cognizant are more than the no. of buses run by the government. This city really needs a Metro system with more priority than any other city.

Another important thing that I noticed about this city is that despite celebrating festival like Ganesh Chatutrthi, Navratre, Diwali… the city lacks social bonding. Though people come out in large numbers to celebrate and enjoy; yet they don’t know about each other, interactions are less. The youth of the city knows the meaning of love yet there are more breakups.. lust outclasses the emotions. People don’t know who their neighbors are. No one cares for others, people mind their own business. This mentality is good but not appreciable. This is where Pune needs to learn from other cities.

After experiencing, shor in the city one can take an off to Lonavala/Kahnadala which is beautiful and peaceful place just 60 kms from the city and will rejuvenate you mind, body and soul. One can also stop at famous religious place ‘shirdi’ that is only an overnight journey from the city. Mumbai, Goa are also not far away.. you just need to pack up your bags.

This is all what I learnt, experienced and explored about Pune in past three months. My wonderful journey full of new discoveries, excitements and thrills continues…